My God! - #Oktoberfest #7 - Spill The Wine - Eric Burdon & War

When I started "The God Delusion" it was Richard Dawkins stated aim to polarise my views towards the non existence of God. While my opinion on the existence of God (I'll believe in God if it turns up and does something genuinely miraculous to prove it's credentials, in my 62 years I've yet to see anything) has not changed Dawkins has pointed out the harm that religion has caused over time along with  singular and mass situations from child murder to genocidal wars plus slavery and misogyny as the norm.

Until th World Trade Centre was destroyed I was unaware that Islam and Christianity worshipped the same god, and as has been recently if there was one god there would be one religion. Dawkins book has made me considered my opinion of religion, as while for some people it does provide order and comfort, but for others it is a method of control and  division often used to implement abuse and harm.

Holy books were written by women and men to provide a way to implement their desired methods on people's way of life. I was also surprised to find out Mormon was as much a made up religion as Scientology ( a tax evasion by L Ron Hubbard) .

Ian Anderson on the cover of "Aqualung" in the text to "My God" put it perfectly.

"And In The beginning, Made Created God; and in the image of Man created he him"

Aqualung

So with that, I move on to #Oktoberfest and an appropriate piece would be "Spill The Wine" by Eric Burdon and War.

Have a good Monday everyone.

Spilling Wine with Lauren Laverne

Today while driving Lauren Laverne played "Spill The Wine" by Eric Burdon and War on 6Music. This is the third song this week that has been the main song in my blog posts.

I first heard this song from 1970, when I got hold of the compilation "All Good Clean Fun" and the music is recognisable as the War of "Low Rider" fame topped with Eric Burdon's perfectly matched vocals. I recently reacquired the vinyl record, although it also appeared on the vastly expanded 3CD set which is now fairly expenses but a great snapshot or the Liberty / UA (United Artists) label imprints from the late sixties and early seventies.

Lauren has been including a lot of great sixties and seventies music recently, mixing with excellent contemporary sounds on her show. One of my slight problems with 6Music is the semi stagnation of shows,  and the number of ex muso's DJing , but the result is an incredible mix of new music to discover with reminders of stuff that you have forgotten or missed along with some great fun and audience interaction. And really that is a good thing.

I wasn't intending to write many posts this week or this month but this is the eighth so far and  I only need to average ten a month to hit 2K posts on this blog since I started it.

Anyway check out Lauren and any other 6Music show , and you may discover something new or something you had forgotten.

#AprilSongs #20 Another Saturday Night

Resuming the #AprilSongs sequence this gorgeous Saturday morning and I and going with "Another Saturday Night" by Sam Cooke, which was also covered by Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam). Both artists produced some essential songs in their bodies of work so it is nice to actually find this link between them.

Sam Cooke was shot dead in 1964 at the age of 33 by Bertha Franklin the manager of the Hacienda Hotel in Los Angeles. He was shot 30 times in wat the court decided was a "justifiable homicide", ir being black in the USA is still a reasonable excuse to shoot someone. There is one take on it here

The song does have some misogynistic lines, with the assumption of male privilege, but it is a fine tune and was a product of it's time but he was responsible for some extremely powerful songs like a "A Change Is Gonna Come" .

Yusuf Islam is still with us and making music that is still worth listening to.

So time for a shower and then despatching an Eric Burdon CD for a Discogs order and maybe a walk into town.

Fighting With My Left Hand

A few weeks ago I was in York in a brilliant Indian restaurant called The Bombay Spice (check it out if you are ever there , and i realised I couldn't hold my fork properly. Co-ordination and strength seemed to have gone. I was concerned as  this was similar to ten years back when I lost the use of three fingers to what may have been a stroke as a result of ITP which was as a result of a bad 'flu attack.

By Sunday I could hold a fork reasonably well dining in the superb Blue Bicycle . Ive been forcing myself to do things since then , but still can't really control holding reflexes and my little finger is full of pins and needles anda bit useless.

Bee messing about with a guitar as that makes you do things with your fingers , but still can't play any chord that requires a little finger , but can obviously play bass!

Reading books and taking the tops of yoghurt pots was difficult at first , but is getting better.

Finally saw my doctor at nine o'clock last night and she put me through a lot checking for signs of a stroke , nervous and diabetic related degradation but everthing looks in order so it's off to see a neurologist.

It's awkward but could be much worse . The strength is definitely there , it's just a case of relearning to apply it. Also I'm reading a rather large tome about Tony Benn and turning pages and holding the book is a bit akward.

On the upside looking forward to the summer festivals and we're close to the Easter Weekend . Which sort of reminds me I've been listening to the excellent new Eric Burdon album and currently playing is the superb "Devil and Jesus".....

"The Devil and Jesus

 Controlling My Soul

They Fight With Each Other 

But I Pay The Toll"

Wonderful stuff: